Five Souls
Chapter 2
At first, there was nothing but soothing blackness. I felt no pain, no fear or sorrow. All I did feel was relief. Relief of what? Where was I anyways? Conscience became to tug me back to reality.
And I opened my eyes.
I pulled up from my position on a desk. My head previously was in my arms. I looked around. All I saw was my old classroom back during my days as a Shibusen student.
'How did I get here? This is too weird.'
The silence that filled the room became unnerving.
I tried to cry out 'Hello? Is anyone there?' But no sound escaped my thought.
I bolted from my chair, and ran out of the classroom. Sprinting down the long hallway I thought, 'Where is everyone? There are always a student or two anytime of the day'. I tried to think of what I had been doing before I woke up on that desk, but my memory remained silent.
I tried unsuccessfully to speak once again. Rounding another corner, I reached the hall way where the missions where displayed.
DEATH THE KID was written on each clipboard.
'This must be a dream, there is no other logical explanation', I told myself. Which is strange, because all of my dreams are always about symmetry.
Suddenly, a voice cracked over the loud speaker, "Death the Kid, please report to the Death Room. Death the Kid, please report to the Death Room". 'What the heck is going on?' I turned another corner leading towards the Death Room. 'Aren't I the Shinigami? Why would anyone call for me by my real name?'
In the Death Room, there stood a lone woman with midnight black hair. A single white highlight ran though her bangs. Her eyes where golden and she wore a long flowing black dress with a white cross embroidered on her mid area. There was white lily behind her ear. The flower annoyed me, for it made her asymmetrical.
"Death the Kid, I've been waiting for you".
I tried to speak, to ask her a million question, but with no success.
"Ha, that's right, you can not speak. It's God's little punishment for when you first arrive." Leaning in to me she whispered, "It helps you to listen."
'Where. Am. I?' I mouthed slowly.
"Why where do you think? In heaven of course!" she exclaimed extending her arms out. "You've died, past away, meet your maker, gone to the other side", the women continued listing nice names for death but the single phase stayed in my mind,
YOU'VE DIED.
How is this possible? I'm a Shinigami! I can't die! This can't be heaven! This is Shibusen!
With that, I took off running, out the Death Room, down the hall and into Death City.
"They always run, huh?" the mystery women mused with her self aloud as she flew after me. "Kid, you can't escape the fact that your soul was destroyed. I mean if you want to keep running, that's fine with me, I know how are it is to accept death, but you can't live in denial." Hitting herself on the head she exclaimed, "Oops! I said live! Oh well, you get the picture." She continued to fly after me with a concerned expression on her pale face.
I stopped, she was right. It's not like I could go anywhere.
"You see Kid", she said gently landing beside me, "You will meet five souls in Heaven. Each one you knew in life. There are here to teach you everything you never understood in life, so that you may rest in peace."
Smoothing down her dress, "I am your first soul." She said. "I knew you in life, don't you remember me?"
I thought about all the people I knew during my life. Her strange appearance didn't ring any bells. I shook my head no.
"Huh!" she grunted crossing her arms over her chest. "You'd think that out of all the people in the world, a child would remember his own mother!"
I'm sure that if time flowed existed in Death, it would have frozen at her last statement.
This women, is my MOTHER! She gave birth to me?
I studied her now and she did resemble me. Or, I guess, I resembled her. We both had dark hair, pale skin, and golden eyes, but her face was warm and friendly. My expression made me look like I was seriously bored.
"I guess your father never told you about me." Rolling her eyes, "That's to be expected, death was his least favorite subject." Taking my hand, "You where only three when, I passed."
Suddenly the image of the school became blurry and I found myself walking on the streets of Death City 177 years ago.
A little boy is bouncing a black ball with a white skull printed on it. The mother was carrying multiple shopping bags.
"A three years old brain is still developing, they usually don't have memories until they have reached four, so you probably don't remember any of this." My mother, the real one, said.
The little boy was me I realized. "Kid stop bouncing that ball and hold my hand please" said my mother from the past. The boy continued bouncing, ignoring his mother request.
The scene played out in heartbeats. The boy dropped the ball, it rolled into the streets, he chased after it, his mother screamed, the boy picked up the ball, a driver tried to slam on his brakes, the child stood frozen in fear, the mother ran into the streets…
'NO STOP!' I screamed into my mind. I ran forward to try to stop the woman.
"This is an illusion Kid, it's already happened! You can't change the past!" my mother shouted pulling me away.
I glanced back at the scene. The boy stood in horror while the mother lay crumpled underneath the car.
My present mother pulled on my arm, "Common, we have more to see".
We where in a hospital room. The woman lay on a bed. Multiply tubs and bandages where all over her body. A worried Shinigami huddled over her dying figure.
"The doctors said they did all they could for me. She turned to me shaking her head, "I was never very strong, and I'm no Shinigami." "April 13, my special day." She said sarcastically.
I stood in silence. She seemed so calm talking about her death it was almost inhuman. "Your father really loved me, you know." "Just look at him!" she cried gesturing over to my father, "He's weeping beneath that mask of his!"
The image of the hospital room faded and I found us in a small garden. "That is not fair!" I cried out in disgust.
"Oh, look your voice returned"…
"I should not have run into the street!" "You should not have died." I put my face into my hands silently weeping. I killed my own mother.
"Hey! Stop it!" she said hitting me lightly on the head. "My story is about sacrifice, something you must not understand."
"I did what I had to do, and I'm glad I did." "You, your father and this school were my world."
"If one of you vanished, and I could have done something, I'd never forgive myself!"
"Why, why did you show me this?" I asked still miserable.
"Isn't it your story?" she asked. "Was it you who spent so much time trying to find answers to your questions, even though it might hurt?"
"Yes, I did search high and low to know who Eibon was." I muttered.
"You've always wondered who your mother was, correct?" I simply nodded. She spoke the truth.
"Besides", she said adding a grin, "A child deserves to know who his own mother was."
She turned to the garden. "Do you know this place?"
I studied the giant tree, its branches extending towards the sky. A small river wrapped around its trunk with little flower of all shades of hue blooming at the river's edge.
"Yes, I used to come here to admire its symmetrical beauty when things became too much."
"Hmm, It's my favorite place in Shibusen." She said with a small smile.
I nodded at this, another thing we had in common.
"Why are we at Shibusen? I asked. "Surely this can't be heaven."
"I mean, my heaven would not be here, it would be some vast mansion in perfect symmetrical balance."
"Kid, this isn't your heaven, it's mine." Seeing my confusion she clarified. "I lived my whole life here. I could never imagine living anywhere else, even during Death. All souls choose their own heaven. This is where I choose to wait for you for 177 years."
She bent down picking a flower. "You Shinigamis don't value life." Her once cheerful face became solemn.
"You say 'I'm immortal, nothing can kill me, nothing can stop me', when really life is precious, and it must end." The flower in her hand wilted at this. "We only have so much time." "Your father never expected my death, even though he is death. Not even you knew it was coming." The garden became quiet; the only sound was the babbling brook.
"Mother, I don't know your name." I whispered looking into her gold eyes.
"I have been called many names, "Lady Death", "Mrs. Shinigami", and even "the Flower Women". She said directing to the flower in her hair. "What you call me doesn't matter in my heaven, just that you listen to your teachers." She whispered with a shy grin.
She rolled back on her heel and stood up walking back to the school.
"Where are you going?" I called out.
"Oh, I'm not going anywhere, you are!"
Seeing my surprise written on my face she replied, "You still have four more souls to meet", raising four fingers, "I'm only number one."
I felt myself being pulled away by some invisible force.
"Wait! You never told me, how did I die?"
"I don't know, ask someone else. Do I look like Death?" I shook my head no.
Clutching my face she whispered, "Remember Kid, nothing can last forever, not even a Shinigami." And with that said she vanished.
